Media News - Friday, June 05, 2009

US: Digital e-reading alliance drafting proposal for newspaper consortium

The Digital Publishing Alliance (DPA), a member-supported initiative of the Reynolds Journalism Institute, is drafting up a proposal to create an e-reader consortium for newspaper publishers and other content providers. The DPA, which includes 32 members such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and the Newspaper Association of America, has been working on a proposition for the past month. The DPA hopes to have the proposal ready to present to major U.S. newspapers and one international paper before the end of June. 'We have to recognize that [e-readers] are a fourth platform,' said Roger Fidler, program director for digital publishing at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. 'It's distinct from mobile and the Web and print.' As e-readers gain traction among consumers, the DPA wants to make sure that content providers are ahead of the curve. The alliance seeks to create some standards around content presentation and advertising. Fidler is seeing a lot of activity among newspaper executives who are eager to embrace e-readers, while simultaneously trying to avoid the mistakes made with the Web. 'Advertising is a critical component,' said Fidler, who noted that with e-readers, publishers see two revenue streams, one from subscriptions and one from advertising. 'It's the old newspaper model, which is a very good model if you can make it work.' (Editor and Publisher)

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